The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1887-02-12
Correspondence Baltimore County Onion.
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY.
ASTRONOMY AS AN INVESTMENT.

ASTRONOMY AS AN INVESTMENT.
Prof E. C. Pickering, of the Harvard College
Observatory, remarks that the many millions of
dollars spent upon astronomy during the last two
or three centuries have yielded returns whose
value cannot be estimated. Aside from the knowl-
edge gained of other worlds and of the laws gov
erning the universe, the information obtained
concerning this world has been of enormous prac-
teal Importance. SAFE and certain communica-
ton between distant countries has been secured,
together with accurate maps, and the precise de-
termination of time. These results have pecuni-
airy value which would repay many times the to-
tai Of all astronomical expenditures.
FIXING THE DATE OF DEATH.
By study of the organisms which work upon
corpses NJ. Meguin claims to be able to determine
the date of deatha matter which is often of great
Importance. In body which had lain in cellar
for year, five different species of Acarina were
traced, with the order of succession and duration
of each. One species consumes the fatty acids,
another absorbs the fluids, and each dies when its
work is ended, which is in six or eight weeks in
summer. The date of a murder, the victim of
which was found buried in garden, was very ac-
curately estimated.
DRAWING CARBON FILAMENTs.
The little threads of carbon whose heating fur
nishes the light of incandescent electric lamps,
made in q Glasgow establishment by process
somewhat analogous to wire-drawing. The Kitool
(Carvota urens) fibre, imported from Ceylon for
brush-making, is first drawn to a uniform size
through sharp dies. The threads are then placed
in fine copper tubes, and thewhole passed through
q draw-piate, which has the effect of squeezing the
metal round the fibre and COMPRISING the latter.
The tubes and flaments are next cut into lengths,
then the filaments are carbonized in a crucible.-
The copper is subsequently dissolved off by means
of acid, portions being left to form connections.
VEGETABLE SERPENT.
Tho cobra plant Of the Himalayas, belonging to
the family Aroideae, so strikingly resembles
cobra with its head erect that persons coming
upon it unawares instinctivey recoil with horror.
The half-moon- shaped markings on the cobra's
head, and the lines on its neck, are initiated in
the fower-sheath of the plant, while the tongue
like eongation of the pistil and of the midrib of
the hower-sheath serve to increase the resemblance
of the plant to living animal.
JAPANESE VOLCANOES.
Japan is considered by Prof. Milne to have at
least 100 undoubted volcanoes, of which about As
are still active have been during the historical
period. About 232 eruptions have been recorded.
The intensity of volcanci action seems to have
been as great as in any part of the world. A
period of unusual activity was between l7SO and
1900, during which time part of Mount Unsen
was blown up with loss of from q, 600 to $4,000
lives. Many islands were formed in the Satsuma
sea, Sakurajima threw out so much pumice that
it was possible to walk distance of 80 miles upon
the the floating debris in thesea, and Asamaeject-
ed many blocks of stone-one of them AZ feet in
diameter-and lava-stream 4Olmiles inlength.
The eruptions have exerted powerful influence
to be specially sought, while mountain deity wor
ship continues not uncommon.
NOVEL ENGINE.
An ingenious pumping engine was submitted to
the French Academy of Sciences by Mr.. Teller,
and is thus described The roof of shed or small
building is made of tight compartments formed Of
iron plates, which are riveted at their edges. In
each of the compartments a volatile liquid is en-
closed, which becomes vaporized by the atmos
pheric heat, the vapors escaping by tubes which
meet in q common reservoir. Whatever liquid is
drawn with the gas returns to the compartments
by lower tube. The vapor passes from the res
ervoir to metallic sphere at the bottom OF the
well, where it is condensed by the waters cold
This sphere has caoutchouc diaphragm which
can be fitted by its elasticity alternately to the
upper or lower hemisphere, so as to moye.a slid
ing valve, and by the alternate introduction and
condensation of the vapor to raise water in con-
siderable quantities. In actual working, ma
chine of this kind raised 260 gallons of water per
hour from depth of twenty three feet.
THE HoRsE-AGE.
One of the most interesting stations of prehis-
toric man in France is found at Solutre, and,
while containing numerous human remains with
stone implements, etc., is chiefly remarkable for
the enormous deposit of horse bones accumulated
about the stone hearths. wall five feet high,
eleven to fourteen yards long and four and half
feet wide, is composed entiray of these equine re-
mains. DIR. Cartailhac estimates that 10000
skeletons might be reconstructed from the bones,
and he assumes that the horse must have reached
its greatest development and served in place OF
all other game at the time when the ancient hunters
left the accumulations at this place.
MISCELLANEOUS.
Experiments communicated to the French
Academy by M. Vulpian show that in fishes the
intellectual and instructive faculties, which in all
higher animals seem to be located in the cere-
brun, may be fully retained, with good health
after the complete removal of that portion OF the
BRAIN.
Vast arid and almost rainless tracts in Austria
liza, according to Mr.. Joseph Bosisto, of Victoria,
are thickly covered with q dwarf Eucalyptus,
barely eight feet high. The stem of his shrub
contains half pint of water, which bushmen
quickly obtain, yet in these
regions often die of thirst.
The Paris Geographical Society is collecting
portraits of distinguished geographers and ex-
plorers, and has now over 1850.
From observations in various widely-separated
cities, German meteorogist finds that the yearly
mean temperature in town is from one to two
degrees higher than in the surrounding country,
the difference seeming to depend less on the size
of the town than on the surroundings of the OBJ
serving station. Both the daily and the absolute
fluctuations are smaller in towns than in the open
country.